1. Technical Field
The embodiments of the present invention described herein generally relate to a system and method for post impact safety using vehicle contact information.
2. Background Art
FIG. 1 depicts various light impact scenarios that may take place between a moving vehicle 10 and a host vehicle 12. The moving vehicle 10 contacts the host vehicle 12 causing the host vehicle 12 to operate under a post-contact situation. While in the post-contact situation, the host vehicle 12 may be in an unstable state. Pre-crash sensing systems utilize radar and vision sensors for active safety applications. The active safety applications generally provide information related to the state of the host vehicle 12 and the state of any oncoming objects or vehicle(s) with respect to the host vehicle 12 prior to contact. The active safety applications employ vehicle countermeasures such as braking and steering to mitigate or avoid impact. Real world accident data has shown, that in some situations, a vehicle may lose control even when the vehicle experiences a light impact, which in some cases may not be sever enough to deploy the restraint system.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system and a method for enhancing vehicle safety by providing vehicle contact information to an active safety application when the vehicle experiences impacts, including light impacts to stabilize the vehicle post impact.